Special birthday present Tristan. I am sure you will want to share these :p
I need to try one more piece to see if it is ok.
Present
Category Archives: Life Happens
Criminal Behaviour?
On a Friday night when I was asleep (yes at 6 PM after a hard week) a “ranger” came and told my son to move his car from the “nature Strip”. I was busy with Umpiring cricket then playing all weekend so I was surprised on Monday to see a parking ticket on the car when I went to charge the battery so it could be moved. Here is what I wrote:
From: Sent: Tuesday, 19 February 2008 4:24 PM To: Subject: May I have an explanation please?
To whom it may concern,
I am trying to remain calm and considered in this.
Today, I took half a day off work to assist my son who is a university student to move the car he inherited when his grandfather died. Now, instead of doing that, I am writing this e-mail to try to find out what is happening here!
This car has been sitting on the gravel “nature strip”. As far as we can tell it is completely off the road and causes minimal disruption to anyone. It certainly causes much less disruption than the industrial sized trailers, 4WD vehicles etc that regularly park along the road (usually ON the road). Prior to my son’s car being there neighbours used to park a deliver van there.
On the evening of Friday 15 Feb, someone came to the door and spoke to my son. They said a complaint had been made by someone who could not be identified. That complaint led to a request that we move the car. No identifying information was given to my son and no document was left to explain what the issue was. The person was a “ranger” or something like that. My son remembers something being said about his car obstructing the driveway. Today, I found a parking infringement notice #103237486 0 in the windscreen dated 17 February at 11:39 AM. A time when both of us were out (with prior commitments). I found this quite ironically, when attempting to find a way to open the bonnet of the car so that we could charge the battery on the car.
Now, since my son has no license and there is no other place to park the car, there were three consequences. 1- we needed to find out what the problem was so we could correct it. 2 – We needed to start the car (which has not been started for many months) 3- we needed to find a good spot to put the car, with me driving it.
1. On Monday I called ACT Government via Canberra Connect to find out what status this “ranger” had and what we were required to do. I was told it might have been a city ranger. I was unable hold long enough to get onto the rangers at lunchtime. Today, I held on long enough and was told that they have no record of any ranger visiting out address and that they only deal with unregistered vehicles. I was informed that they only pursue unregistered vehicles
2. Given the uncertainty of the situation I decided to take this afternoon off to charge the battery of the car so it could be moved if necessary – only to be confronted with the parking infringement.
3. We considered what could be done. IT is possible that we can park the car in front of the house of a friend – thus transferring the problem to another location but complying with the law as I am now aware of it.
There are some highly dubious things that have happened here.
• Whoever came to the door did so late on a Friday and did not identify themselves in any material way. They left no documentation to say what we needed to do. Instead they left a vague message that there was a problem that “someone” had with the car being where it is and that we needed to shift it.
• Given that the vehicle is only likely to be obstructing my own driveway, it is hard to see how it is obstructing others.
• IT is fully registered and only parked in the same place that many other cars are parked (probably further off the road than others.
• Given that there is no other place to park a car except on the road (which would be legal but stupid to do), there surely would be some time given to us to find storage for the car or arrange for some alternative.
• If there was a matter of moving the car say 1 metre one way or another then it would be helpful to know who it is that needs to not be “obstructed”.
• Why the amazing haste to book the vehicle on Sunday morning after only speaking to someone on the Friday night?
• If this is how things are to be done then what stops a mass campaign of similar things to get all the other cars in the street booked for the same thing? Is it my civic duty to initiate that?
• If anyone had taken a moment to consider the situation, they could immediately recognize that… my son is unlicensed and cannot drive the car on his own, there are no other places for him to park the car except on the street and that this would be a bad option to take, that the slope on the short, curved drive way to the 1 car carport, would make a dangerous place to park a car and finally that for me to park my van in the same place would be worse all round.
• Would the learner plates on the car have given the parking officer a clue as to why the car is not driven regularly? Given that he is doing the right thing by NOT driving it and riding his bike to Uni, what kind of message is this giving to those who choose to avoid waste?
• If the traffic people wished to break from established tradition, surely there should be some scope for discussion about practicalities?
So, can you kindly explain what has happened and why the heavy handed approach? Why on earth was anyone so immensely keen to fine a 19 year old for having his car on a GRAVEL patch in front of his own home?
Regards,
The response? – Nothing… until there was a summons for my son to defend the “charges” against him in court. This has gone to the ACT Ombudsman.
Research on my father
I am doing some research into my father’s WWII service. I have heard different things and am not sure if they really stack up. Now, I have finished the research available on the web and need to visit the War Memorial to follow through his service in the 1st and 2nd New Guinea Battalions. I was able to trace his participation with the Ballarat raised 8th Battalion and he was rapidly promoted to Sergeant on enlistment. It seems he went straight into Intelligence because he was good with figures and quite literate for the time. He told me that he refused officer training because he did not like the way officers were treated as better than the soldiers. By remaining a sergeant he outranked nearly everyone and being in Intelligence, he knew what was happening and was actively involved. Sgt Guy is mentioned all through the Battalion war diary for his work reconnoitring and mapping. He showed me how to draw maps and interpret them when I was 12 years old and I developed an interest in bush walking from that. Last entry in the 8 Battalion war diary for him was of him “marching out” to 2 Battalion NG Inf. at 0530 27 March 1945 – I felt a kind of sadness as I had developed a feeling that I was allowed into the daily lives of some 1,000 men on the adventure of their lives. They had recently entered dangerous areas and were about to start a very aggressive campaign to remove Japanese forces from a section of Bougainville. I had heard a lot about Bougainville and had expected that he would still be with the 8th Battalion through that part of the war. Now I know it is more complex. I also remember Rabaul and a volcano mentioned. That suggests New Britain and the NG Infantry. Three books that I read when I was young were titled “Jungle Warfare”, “Stand Easy” and “Khaki and Green”. These books are now lost when my mother moved several times in the 1980s. They were written by people who had served in the Infantry and dad considered them to be precious mementos. He ended his service in the 1st Battalion NG infantry so there were some things that happened in between. He was also a staff sergeant at the end of the war too. At the same time as he moved into the NG Battalion, several others who were long-time 8th Battalion leaders left to do the same. I suspect there is a story behind that. I had to request that his war service records be scanned so that I can see them. Nobody had requested access before. That is sad in a way but at least it will be there to help me follow through and check things. I keep thinking of how many people exposed themselves to such danger and are largely forgotten. The ones who had young lived stopped at the same age as my son is now. The damage done to their later lives by war experiences. The fact that they were prohibited from talking about things they had seen and done for 30 or more years and what that did to relationships. <h4>Random memories</h4> Fishing with grenades. I was told about fishing with grenades. Apparently this is something “Americans” did and it was illegal in the Australian army. Exploding a grenade in the water near a reef stunned the fish and then all you needed to do was collect the fish. This was one of the perks of going out on a PT boat. Talk about a company being sent to an are that had a Battalion strength of Japanese soldiers defending it …
Black Mountain Tower
Gallery
Black Mountain Tower in a Canberra Winter.
In the depths of Winter I was up there and this shot looked irresistible to me.
The Sky colour is really like that. The only thing I did in photoshop was resize the image so it is smaller for the web and crop it to frame the tower better.
The other ones I took of the lake on the same day are worth seeing as well.
Research on WWII
Looking through a lot of online resources, I have been able to get a sense of what my father experienced during his time in the army. There is a book that I need to read called Green Shadows which is a history of the 1st and 2nd New Guinea Battalions where he served in the last months of the war. The ACT Library has it and I can borrow it on Monday. It is clear that he enlisted relatively late – 10 December 1932. This was because he was in an essential occupation, (brick and tile making?) I think. Continue Reading →
The worst news you could hear
This morning, I woke up to the 7 AM news and heard something that made me freeze in a moment. “A man died this morning at 4 AM at Campbell High School”. “The man aged 20, died when he fell from the roof “. I immediately thought about where my son was and I knew he was ok.
Then I realised he probably knew whoever it was. Later, I got a call to tell me that it was someone we all know well. He played football with my son for four years and was actually at the same orientation week party last night at ANU. While I am glad my own son is safe, I feel so badly for the parents of this other young man (his name has not been released to the public yet). I can remember the pride they had in their fine young man who was so talented in many ways. At 20 years old the world is just full of possibilities and opportunities to have fun – and to take risks. So many of our young men take risks and feel that they are indestructible. Then something goes wrong.
Every parent knows this is what happens between the ages of 18 and 25 and knowing it is rare but far too common we wait up at night listening for the door handle so we can sleep easily. Fearing a telephone call to go to some hospital or worse. Knowing that our children are independent now and need to do things on their own. No longer needing us to pick them up when they fall and patch up their knees and wounded pride. But wanting to anyway – because they are so precious to us. Farewell Robin and your so short life . To your parents, I can only say that I feel so much for your distress and I know that there is little that can be done to console your grief now.
Hello Again World!
Starting to get back online.
The headline is that after a failure at Servage, my blog was corrupted. Several things could be fixed but others could not.
On a new host now at Go Hosting and things are much better. I will reconstruct old posts as I am able to retrieve the content.